Systems and methods for controllable water treatment

Abstract

Various embodiments of the invention relate to a controllable water treatment system, and more particularly, to systems, devices and methods of generating purified water with options of waste recycling and filter membrane rinse protection. The controllable water treatment system comprises a water intake tank, a pretreatment stage, a treatment stage and a purified water storage tank. Water waste output from the treatment stage may be drained or fed back into the water intake tank for recycling. Furthermore, the controllable water treatment system features rinse protection for filter membranes in the treatment stage. Before the system stop operation, water from the purified water storage tank is fed back into the filter stage to rinse the membranes for further protection. Such an application improves the lifespan of the membranes and thus the utility of the controllable water treatment system.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for water treatment, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a water intake tank water, input from one or more water resources, the water intake tank comprising at least one water level sensor to monitor water level within the water intake tank and a first water quality sensor to monitor water quality within the water intake tank, the at least one water level sensor and the first water quality sensor coupled to a controller; 
 pumping water from the water intake tank with a first water pump coupled to the controller for operation control, the controller stops the first water pump from operation when the monitored water quality within the water intake tank is above a first threshold, the first threshold is a predetermined value; 
 receiving, at a pretreatment stage, the pumped water from the first water pump for pretreatment; 
 receiving the pretreated water at a treatment stage comprising one or more filtering membranes; 
 outputting, from the treatment stage, purified water and waste water, water quality of the waste water is monitored by a second water quality sensor coupled to the controller, when the monitored water quality of the waste water is above the first threshold, the waste water is drained, when the monitored water quality of the waste water is below the first threshold, the waste water is fed back into the water intake tank for recycling; 
 collecting the purified water at a purified water storage tank; and 
 monitoring the purified water within the purified water storage tank with a third water quality sensor, in response to the monitored water quality of the purified water being below the first threshold but above a second threshold, feeding the purified water within the purified water storage tank back into the water intake tank, the second threshold is a value less than the first threshold. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein the controller is coupled to the at least one water level sensor, the controller enables a filling process to fill the water intake tank when the at least one water level sensor indicates the water intake tank is not full before turning on the first water pump. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2  wherein the first and second water quality sensors are total dissolvable solid (TDS) sensors to measure concentration of dissolved solid particles. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2  wherein the controller stops the first water pump from operation when the monitored water level within the water intake tank indicates an empty tank. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 draining the purified water within purified water storage tank when the monitored water quality is above the first threshold. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 monitoring water level within purified water storage tank with a purified water level sensor; and 
 stopping the first pump from operation when the purified water storage tank is full.